1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fiber channel ports. More specifically, the present invention provides techniques and mechanisms for efficiently aggregating fiber channel ports into port channels.
2. Description of Related Art
Neighboring nodes in a fiber channel network are typically interconnected through multiple physical links. For example, a local fiber channel switch may be connected to a remote fiber channel switch through four physical links. In many instances, it may be beneficial to aggregate some of the physical links into logical links. That is, multiple physical links can be combined to form a logical interface to provide higher aggregate bandwidth, load balancing, and link redundancy. When a frame is being transmitted over a logical link, it does not matter what particular physical link is being used as long as all the frames of a given flow are transmitted through the same link. If a constituent physical link goes down, the logical link can still remain operational.
However, conventional mechanisms for aggregating ports into port channels are limited. Some aggregation mechanisms exist for other networks such as Ethernet networks. However, the other aggregation mechanisms can not be applied to fiber channel networks because of characteristics unique to fiber channel.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide techniques for improving aggregation of fiber channel switch port into port channels.